Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Bill Gordon

March 2000

Japanese Prime Minister Matsuoka Yôsuke announced the idea of the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (referred to as "Co-Prosperity Sphere
in this essay) in August 1940. However, the roots of the Co-Prosperity
Sphere go back many years prior to its formal announcement. The Japanese
envisioned the Co-Prosperity Sphere to be an autarkic bloc of Asian nations
led by the Japanese and free of Western powers. This essay briefly describes
some of the cultural, economic, and political reasons for the development
of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. The last part of the essay summarizes some
steps the Japanese took to develop this initiative and then highlights
the great divergence between the propaganda and the reality surrounding
the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

The idea of Japanese cultural superiority over other Asian races had
been expounded as early as the late nineteenth century and steadily grew
in intensity until the end of World War II. For example, the famous Japanese
educator Fukuzawa Yukichi wrote "Japan's Mission in Asia" in 1882 to support
the idea of Japanese imperialism and the "manifest destiny" of Japan to
be the leader of Asia. In the early part of the twentieth century, several
ultranationalist groups and writers, such as the Black Dragon Society and
Kita Ikki, gained increasing popularity with their views that Japan should
take leadership in Asia to expel foreign powers by means of a righteous
war if necessary. Many of these ultranationalist groups believed that the
moral purity of the Yamato race and Japan's unique ancestry as descendants
of the sun goddess Amaterasu entitled the Japanese to such a leadership
role in Asia.In 1905, Japan became the first Asian
country to defeat a Western power, namely Russia in the Russo-Japanese
War of 1904-5, which bolstered Japan's confidence in its destiny to lead
Asia.

Economic reasons played a large role in Japan's announcement of the
Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1940. Japan required East Asian raw materials such
as oil from the Dutch East Indies and rubber from Indochina in order to
keep its manufacturing industry and military in China supplied. The U.S.
embargo of oil and steel shipments to Japan and other restrictions on raw
materials shipments by Western nations pushed the Japanese leaders to seek
sources in Asian countries to ensure Japanese self-sufficiency. The other
Asian countries in the Co-Prosperity Sphere also would provide Japan with
export markets for its manufactured goods and with land for its surplus
population.

In addition to cultural and economic factors, Japan's international
political aspirations also led to the formation of the Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Since the late nineteenth century, Japanese leaders believed they had just
as much right as Western powers to acquire and maintain colonies in Asia.
Japan considered colonies to be a basic prerequisite to achieving international
prestige and becoming a first-rate country (ittô koku). The
Western imperialist countries also subjected Japan to a series of coercive
acts, insults, and provocations, which caused great anger to fester among
the Japanese people. For example, the 1921-22 Washington Conference naval
treaties forced on Japan an unfavorable battleship ratio of 5:5:3 for the
US, Britain, and Japan respectively. In 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference,
Western countries rejected the simple Japanese request to have a racial
equality clause included in the League of Nations Covenant. In 1924, America
passed the Japanese Exclusion Act to shut off Japanese immigration into
the US. This series of international affronts to Japanese pride and status
provided fuel to Japanese militaristic sentiments and eventually led to
Japan attacking the Western powers to establish the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere.

Japanese leaders used the Co-Prosperity Sphere in its propaganda for
the people both in Japan and in other Asian countries. The leaders spoke
of "Asia for Asians," the need to liberate Asian countries from Western
imperialist powers, and economic co-prosperity for member nations of the
autarkic bloc. As Japan occupied various Asian countries, they set up governments
with local leaders who proclaimed independence from the Western powers.

The occupied countries soon found out that the reality of the Co-Prosperity
Sphere differed greatly from the high-sounding propaganda. The local governments
established by the Japanese turned out to be puppet regimes with the Japanese
making all significant decisions. The Japanese conducted themselves with
great haughtiness and disdain to the local population and imposed a program
of "Japanization" on the people with little or no regard for local customs
and beliefs. Many native people of these Asians countries suffered and
died from forced labor, torture, and execution. The Co-Prosperity Sphere
turned out to be just another form of oppressive imperialism in place of
the imperialism previously imposed by Western nations.